Firestorm 2007
The headlines are grim. "250,000 San Diego Households Told To Flee," reads the online edition of The Los Angeles Times:
"SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County authorities ordered 250,000 people to evacuate their homes this morning as wildfires raged across Southern California for another day, destroying scores of homes, clogging highways and sending smoke and ash over a wide area.
Schools were closed and hospitals evacuated by bus, and hundreds of people sought refuge in Qualcomm Stadium and other evacuation centers. Fire officials were stretched to their limits trying to cope with fast-moving, wind-whipped blazes that burned more than 100,000 acres.
"This is a major emergency," Ron Roberts, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, told reporters this morning as he outlined the scope of the damage and evacuations.
"We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," San Diego Fire Capt. Lisa Blake said. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today."
Fewer than 100 firefighters were in reserve to protect the 400-square-mile city, said John Langford, a spokesman for San Diego Fire and Rescue. Firefighters targeted the Guejito Fire, which burned into Rancho Bernardo, a neighborhood in northern San Diego.
"We're stretched about as thin as we could possibly be," San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman said. "We've never seen conditions like this," she said of the wind, drought and dryness. "That's why it's the most challenging we've ever seen."Langford added, "We have all our forces trying to fight this, everything available."
Emergency officials urged residents to limit cellphone calls and to use major highways for emergencies only. But people who heeded warnings to get out of the way of the fires mostly left by car, turning the northbound Interstate 5 into the kind of mess usually associated with weekend revelers heading home.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for Rancho Santa Fe, portions of Leucadia, as well as the Olivenhain Dam area.
Wow.
The Governator is speaking from a location about 20 miles from my house, urging people to remain calm. (So we must be screwed for sure, right?) The freeways are clogged with SUVs filled with fleeing residents, their possessions crammed inside. Schools have been closed. At least 500 homes have burned.
My house is in the "Estimated Advisory Evacuation" zone, whatever that means, but so is the rest of North County. Sitting here at my desk, I can look out towards Ramona, the heart of the fire. Some hours are better than others. The wind shifts more to the south and it looks like things are clearing up. Then it shifts more to the north and the brown wall approaches. Then it's kind of scary.
Although Calavara Hills is tinder dry and not very far from my house, the San Marcos fire would have to burn through a lot of houses to get there. So I'm probably safe.
Update: My dad has received a reverse 911 phone calling for a mandatory evacuation of his house near Fallbrook. A section of Del Mar, all the way to the beach, in now part of the mandatory evacuation, which is the largest since Katrina. Everything outside is covered in ash and the light has that sepia Mordor-like cast to it. The fire is now seven miles from my house, but I doubt it will get much closer. Trust me, that's close enough.
The brown wall, as seen from the mouth of Agua Hedionda Lagoon, Carlsbad. 10/22/2007
Looking north, however, up toward Terramar, the day seems nice (if a little smoggy). 10/22/2007
I know, it's a scary big deal and a quarter-million people have been evacuated, but damn if the fire didn't make the surf conditions good. 10/22/2007
Down on the beach at Ponto, in south Carlsbad, you were right up next to the brown wall and all its apocalyptic beauty. 10/22/2007
Ponto, with weird lighting conditions for 8:30 in the morning. 10/22/2007
Another view from the beach at Ponto. 10/22/2007
Cars (with their headlights on) come out of Leucadia near Ponto. 8:34 a.m. 10/22/2007